Madden NFL 12 Tops September in Sales

The release date shift for Madden NFL 12 meant the entirety of its first four weeks of sales landed in September as opposed to the first three weeks coming in August as has been the case in year’s past. That allowed Madden 12 to top the sales charts edging out Gears of War 3 which sold over 2 million copies – though beyond that the specific numbers have not been provided.

Based on the 10% rise in its first week announced by EA Sports – if that number carried through the month (and evidence would suggest it did or even increased) that would make for an approximate sales total of 2.4 million copies for Madden 12 in its first 4+ weeks. Even more interesting though is the rise in relevance of the FIFA series in the US.

After dipping with Madden 10 the past two years have brought initial sales bumps – with Madden 12 marking about a 19% increase since then. Word of mouth this year has been relatively strong, certainly compared to last year, so long-term sales potential through the holidays looks up as well. The excitement over the NFL season combined with the later release seemed to propel Madden 12 out of the gate – along with a strong marketing campaign that began way back in March increasing awareness and keeping Madden relevant even throughout the lockout.

As with many sports titles now there are other factors present in boosting immediate purchases – the two of which here are the “Online Pass” and promotional credits from retailers. Amazon and Walmart offered $20 promo credits with purchases making it essentially a $40 investment for the game brand new on day one. It won’t be until probably Black Friday that the game will be found for less – and even used copies will be more until about then given the $10 needed then to spend on the “Online Pass”.

FIFA 12 was able to finish in 4th place – the highest it has ever reached. Though it is the biggest selling sports game of all-time worldwide that widespread interest has never fully translated over to North America but it has been making consistent progress. Last year it reached 5th in cracking the top 10 for the first time. The 4th place finish this time around is even more telling considering it was only on the market for five days of NPD reporting. It was able to beat out NHL 12 for the first time ever in North America (it was 4th last year and 5th this year) and that offering had been available for 19 days in comparison.

well deserved and should show EA that good products = sales instead of gimmicks.

crazy_black_man-@PSN

Really? i sold my copy on Glyde after the first week I played it. Madden 12 was garbage dressed up as an NFL 2K football game. Smoke, mirrors and hype. Hey EA…”Its still not in the game”

Ghost of John Madden

Enough with the revisionist history – NFL 2K5 was not a good football game.

crazy_black_man-

2k5 was the game that Madden 12 is trying its best to emulate. The guys at EA Sports know that people want to still play a 2k football game so they tried their damndest to make a game that had the stuff you see in 2k football games. Angry coaches, players showing emotion on the sidelines, etc. Madden devs read all the forums. They know people hate Madden, They want to be like 2k. They cant because as a publisher, EA is too damn arrogant and too damn incompetent. EA Sports is all about marketing a brand. Their games have no emotion, no personality whatsoever. They suck.

crazy_black_man-

Their new slogan, “Everything you see on Sunday” should actually be “Everything we did to try and make our game look and play like a 2K game failed, but here is our best Madden yet”.

Smsixx

This is the most ignorant post I have ever read on this site.

Anonymous

This is the most ignorant comment I have read.

Ghost of John Madden

What the fuck?

Madden only has angry coaches because 2K had angry coaches?

How about Madden has angry coaches because the NFL has angry coaches

Anonymous

Then why did Ian Cummings and the Madden team at the time said they wanted to create a game were people would quit talking about 2k5?

Wildfirexxi

In before angry bitter 2k nerds

Anonymous

AMEN_RA where are youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! LOL

Anonymous

LOL, everyone knows you are the true fanboy on this site. Why do you bother trying to pretend otherwise.

Wildfirexxi

LMFAO called him right out though

crazy_black_man-@PSN

Big Whoop…its football season. Most men and their sons who like football, may also like videogame football. There is only one crappy new football game available for the month of September. Its gonna sell well because its the only crappy game of videogame football licensed by the NFL.

A better title for this article would have been, ” Madden is the best selling football game for the month of September”. But that would mean that we lived in a perfect world…No?

crazy_black_man-@PSN

Maybe then at least, the guys over at EA Sports could say to themselves that “we really did a great job on this year’s Madden. We beat out the competition this year, and let me tell you, the competition was really strong this year. I am proud of our accomplishments and the Madden team can now all go on a long extended vacation before we start development on next years Madden. I have a feeling that the competition next year is gonna bring it again just like we did.”

This is what we were supposed to be reading. But alas…EA is shit now and always will be shit. That long extended vacation? They are spending that patching this crappy Madfden 12 game.

Smsixx

Bla Bla Bla…same rants on the same topics.

When will you kids learn that your bitching and moaning won’t change anything? You either buy the game and enjoy it to the best extent possible or you pass on it and save some money for something else.

What is so difficult about this?

EA is a business…and good business is money
‘The NFL is a business…and good business is money.
and yep 2k is the same way.

Get the point? These guys dont give two shits about how your upset with online franchise and that you still see problems with the animations…they dont care. So iwhy continue to post diatribes about how horrible they are? If your content with NFL 2k5 then thumbs up…go play that and leave the revolutions to politics…not video games.

crazy_black_man-

Talk about ignorance. Kids bitching and moaning? Did you see all the kids bitching and moaning while occupying Wall street? Is the Tea Party just a bunch of kids bitching and moaning? Contrary to your ignorance, EA is not a good business. EA is in a good business situation. They have no competition for their crappy product. Voicing your opinion is bitching and moaning now? Did you come here to praise the fact that Madden had the highest sales in September? Do you have a personal opinion to share about the article? Are you a fan of the game? Do you think its a great game of football? Why are you here? Who in the hell are you to tell people not to bitch and moan about Madden or any other broken game for that matter? Are you a game developer? Do you have a relationship to EA,
or are you just some angry self righteous asshole reading through the comments, trying to be the dominant opinion, the smartest
guy in the room. Your condescending rant against people who challenge the system, offers nothing to the discussion. Why are you here? Are you a game developer or do you have some other affiliation to EA?

If you are content to let big companies like EA get rich by continuing to
heavily market their broken game every year, I could give 2 shits what
YOU think right now, for you are part of the problem. The revolution is EVERYWHERE, asshole. Either step up and be a part of it or step aside and SHUT THE HELL UP so the rest of us can continue try and make a difference.

NoFro904

its just a game…

crazy_black_man-

No. Once again…IT’S THE ONLY GAME. That’s the main point that started my whole rant.

athe “exclusive rights” deal ONLY works for EA bc dumb ass consumers (myself included) continue to buy madden each and every year. we need to boycott madden13 and buy the NFL 2k14 “reserve ticket”. this way, 2ksports get our $ ahead of time and will be able to buy exclusive NFL rights.

Ghost of John Madden

The exclusive rights deal does not work for EA

It only works for the NFL

Leo

I still dont understand how EA’s monopoly is not illegal but then again they are not the only monopoly in this country.

Giants56ny

Loving the gameplay of Madden for the first time in years! Franchise is pretty sick to, and they can add tons of stuff to superstar mode. But the 2 things that piss me off the most is the slow load times that usually leads to freezing and the crappy ass ratings for each team and player

crazy_black_man-

The beauty is that Madden had to have an exclusive deal to have the top sales for a football game during football season. While 2k’s NBA game was so good (offline) that they didn’t need an exclusive deal with the NBA to have the top sales. Those incompetent EA devs couldn’t compete with NBA2k12, so EA pulled the plug on their basketball game. That says a lot about EA Sports. They don’t like to be forced to make a better game. They like making the same old crap and making lots of money from people who like buying same old crap. They have the perfect customer for Madden football.

TRUTH.

hiphopcop

Couldn’t have said it better myself 😉

Anonymous

I appreciate the comments, but you posted 5 times on the same board saying the same things.

PLEASE STFU!!!

crazy_black_man-

Sorry buddy, but your topical conversation is lacking and weak. I, on the other hand, think in paragraphs. I tend to come back later and clarify my statements so the closed minded people like yourself can gain some knowledge. Are you a moderator here or something like that?

Keith.

LoL at Pasta — EA announces a sales increase every year after the first week, and then you never hear anything more. Why? Because the total sales keep going down each year.

This year is no different. If you look at vgchartz, Madden sales were up after the first week. But now, Madden is almost 100,000 copies behind last year’s for the 360. And on PS2, Wii, and PSP, the sales this year have fallen off a cliff compared to last year.

You’ll never hear the truth on this from Pasta, the original EA Game Changer. But I assure you, this is not going to be the year that reverses the 7 year slide for Madden. Maybe, now that Ian, Phil and others have been shown the door,

And very few times will actual numbers come beyond the first month. Of course if you prefer to make determinations based on made up numbers that’s your call. I hold a higher standard here.

Wildfirexxi

This guy really just used VGChartz tho LMFAO, all your cred flew out the window

Keith.

Vgchartz was right about Madden’s sales last year, as proved by the internal EA memo that leaked. No reason to believe it’s any less accurate this year. Why wouldn’t sales be down for a game with a metacritic score in the 70s, and which has not delivered any jawdropping gameplay improvements in at least 7 years. Anybody know anybody who’s rushing out to buy Madden at this point in October? I sure don’t. Most people I know have already traded their copy in.

crazy_black_man-

Exactly. It didn’t take me any longer than the first week before I regretted buying Madden again this year.

crazy_black_man-

Do you remember back in the day there were like 3 or 4 different NFL games you could buy each season? I can’t remember all the titles right now but each one was different in its own way. They weren’t all great games but at least there was a choice, a variety of different play styles, graphic styles. As much as I love this gen of games, along with the fact that we now have online play, I still really miss those days. I’m as old school as they come. I remember playing 10yrd fight back in the day. I bet a lot of you youngsters never even heard of that game. There as NES football, Tecmo bowl, and what was that first Playstation football game made by Sony or 99 sports? I can’t remember the name. They were good fun back in the day and never needed patches or constant roster updates.

Of course the games back then had all sorts of issues – just no one really cared since there was no such thing as patching back then.

Development costs were so much lower back then allowing for multiple companies to make games for a single sport. Not realistic anymore – just aren’t enough sales to go around to justify it even if licenses are open. Look at college basketball where anyone could make a game but not a single company even wants to right now.

crazy_black_man-

No Pasta. Nobody cared about patching back then because the games simple to pick up and play and they were fun. And there was a variety of quality titles to choose from.

And even now, there are plenty of competitive sales to go around. The problem is marketing. These companies could easily dethrone Madden if they marketed their games properly and sold them at a slightly lower price point like 2k did. 2k was doing so well with their game selling at a lower price point than Madden, that it scared the shit out of EA. People were so hopeful for Backbreaker, but without an NFL license, a game based on great physics just wasn’t enough. As far as college basketball, the other issue is the college players getting paid for the use of their likeness in the game. Don’t even try it Pasta. I’m an old man, and I’ve been playing these games a looong time. I know what’s up. If you’re biased towards EA as people here suggest, that’s cool man. Its your site after all. Thanks for commenting.

crazy_black_man-

Speaking of marketing, Sony could’ve dethroned the Xbox360 if they had marketed the PS3 properly.
All they had to do was highlight the faults of the other console at the time.

All they had to say was “Playstation3, it just does everything, but unlike our competitors console, it doesn’t RROD.” Couple of them commercials running day and night around the holiday shopping season, with Kevin Butler clowning the 360 and its RROD issues, and they would’ve easily been in first place. But that’s another topic entirely, isn’t it?

Anonymous

August release and still no patch. Care to comment EA Pasta. O the developers still on vacation.

hiphopcop

Yeah what happen to those articles, lol Pasta is too busy going after nba2k to even think about Madden, I wonder why?hmmmmmm

There’s nothing dramatically broken with Madden – and the timing for release of the patch is as expected. We have the details and are just waiting on Microsoft and Sony to clear it. What else is there to know?

crazy_black_man-

Nothing dramatically broken? Is the audio still the same, popping, and commentary going in and out? Do quarterbacks still not have the ability to lead receivers and throw controlled touch passes? Yes? No?

Wait for the patch. Knowing EA, it’ll break what wasn’t already broken. I’ve seen what they did to FightNight Champion. Glad I got my money back on that one too. I can wait for another developer to step up and challenge EA in the sports genre. Won’t be supporting any more EA games going forward, whether it be sports, adventure, or otherwise. They’re all talk, hype, and patches.

hiphopcop

Not to mention the pointy shoulder pads in every draft class imported or created, that just ruins the franchise experience a few years in. I can’t believe pasta just said that, SMH

Wildfirexxi

Apparently you don’t know what “broken” means if you use the pads as examples…